For nearly twenty years, I built my career at Edward Jones. I didn’t just work there. I grew up there. I stayed because I believed in it. Not just the brand or the client promise, but the culture. This was a firm where legacy meant something. Where stories about Ted Jones weren’t just history, they were expectations. Associates believed they were part of something long term. Loyalty went both ways. And for a long time, it did.
During the 2008 to 2009 financial crisis, then Managing Partner Jim Weddle made decisions that defined the firm. Hiring froze. Expenses were cut. Leadership did not take bonuses. All to avoid layoffs. That was not messaging. That was leadership taking the hit so associates did not have to. That is the version of this firm many of us built our careers around.
Fast forward to today under Penny Pennington. This is not a culture shift. It is a culture collapse. Morale at the home office is gone. Not low. Gone. Across teams. Across functions. Across people who gave years and in many cases decades to this firm. People who used to defend this company without hesitation are now warning others about it.
This was not a misunderstanding. It was not a lack of transparency. Associates were misled. People were training others on their roles, their processes, and their day to day work without being told those same roles were being moved. Without being told they were effectively training their replacements. In many cases, that realization came after the work had already been handed off and their own roles were eliminated. Inside the firm, it did not feel like poor communication. It felt like a lie.
This is not increased visibility. It is micromanagement. Associates are being tracked in how they work, where they work, and when they work. Activity is tracked. Time is tracked. Location is tracked. In office expectations continue to increase, moving from three days to four with less flexibility and more rigidity. After years of performance and loyalty, the message is clear. You are being watched, not trusted.
There is a growing belief among associates about why this is happening. It does not feel accidental. It feels like pressure. Pressure that makes the day to day experience so frustrating and exhausting that people choose to leave on their own. Because when someone quits, there is no severance, no formal layoff, and no accountability. Call it what you want. That is how it is being experienced. And once people believe they are being managed out instead of supported, trust is gone.
At the same time employees are dealing with layoffs, restructuring, and declining morale, executive compensation continues at levels that feel completely disconnected from what employees are experiencing. That contrast is not subtle. People see it. People talk about it.
This used to be a place where associates felt like they were part of something. Now many feel like they are numbers. Measured. Tracked. Managed. But not valued. And when people feel like that, something breaks.
This was not just professional. It was personal. All of this collided with health challenges in a way that made it harder to function day to day. Walking into meetings and forgetting why you were there. Sitting at a computer, knowing exactly what needed to be done and being unable to start. Managing anxiety that did not match the moment but would not let go. Still showing up. Still performing. Still pretending everything was fine. Like many others are doing right now.
This is not evolution. This is erosion. The slow dismantling of the thing that made this firm successful in the first place. Trust. Because when people feel misled, when they feel watched instead of trusted, and when they feel pushed out instead of supported, they stop believing.
I gave nearly twenty years to this firm because I believed in it. Today, many people do not. Not because they changed. Because the company did. And once a company loses the trust of its own people, no amount of messaging is going to fix that.